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Hair and hearing aids

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I’m curious to hear if it’s normal to get a feedback/glitching sound in my , I think from my hair touching it. It happens more on my left side, which will be the side that is more amplified. It seems when I’m outside the HA settings change and there is no problem, but inside I can have a constant glitching sound that is really unpleasant and distracting.

I have long hair and even if I tie it back, loose hairs will touch the aid, so short of cutting all my hair off, which I’m not very keen to do, I’m not sure what I can do. Do I have to put up with this or should my audi be able to tweak to eliminate or at least minimise this noise? On YouTube etc I see many HA-users with long hair, which makes me think there should be a work-around?

To add - it may not be my hair! It’s not just the sound of the mic being touched, it’s not the rustle sound (I can deal with that). It’s a glitching shrill sound, I also get it if I poke my fingers in that ear canal.

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Ok my own (thinning hair!) 2-cents’ worth: If your hair is coming in contact with the mics on your aids, you’ll get an annoying RUSTLING sound - drives me NUTSO as well.

But if you’re getting other puzzling “glitches” it could be that your aids are not seated properly - and that is a function of the type of tip you have on the speaker: is it custom mold or a flexible silicone tip?

Finally, if you are in a smaller room with wood paneling, I kid you not, you may get feedback. I have that situation cuz my aids have to be jacked up pretty HIGH, so if I’m standing near a wood wall, paneling, my kitchen cupboard, I start to get the squeaky feedback. I think that’s a function of acoustics playing havoc with the limitations of my highly-compressed aids’ electronics.

Try playing around with pressing the speakers INTO your ear canal snugly, or turning the volume DOWN to see if the noises go away. Not sure why you’d get feedback pressing your finger into that ear, but it could be that the FIT of that speaker tip is simply not working for you. In which case, get it re-molded again.

Thank you, that’s helpful. Yes I think you’re right, I don’t think it’s hair, I think it’s fit. I’m on domes and have tried the whole range (bar closed and power domes). There is less of this noise when I use the large tulips, although it’s surprising to me I need that size since I’ve been told that that ear canal is particularly small. And yes, if I lower the volume I don’t get it.

And in all this experimenting I’ve realised my aids appear to be set with a much higher volume on the left side (with streaming it’s easier to discern)! If I split the volume on the app and listen to each “beep” when I adjust to full volume, the left is significantly louder. I don’t know if this an error with the set-up (very possible, I’ve had terrible service and am looking elsewhere) or that I have lost more hearing in my right ear so seems comparatively quiet (which is also possible given a recent viral infection :disappointed_face:)

OK, now we’re getting somewhere! Maybe the volume is louder on the LEFT side cuz that is the ear where your hearing at 3000Hz is a bit WORSE than your right ear’s. So perhaps the volume was boosted a bit TOO much there.

I also tried tulip tips many years ago, and while my hearing was WAY WAY worse than your’s I found they didn’t provide a good enough seal, so I’d get the leaky-squeaky feedback.

Flash forward to now, and I’ve been HUGELY satisfied wearing custom-molded, “roughed-up” titanium tips. These tips not only fit my ears perfectly (as they were made from impressions taken), but they have a rough - not smooth! - surface, so they grip like Spiderman’s feet on plate glass windows. I LOVE THEM. I put them in every morning, and they stay put ALLLLLLLL day long!

By comparison, when I used to have the soft, double-dome silicone tips, I’d be pushing my aids in all day long as they’d keep slipping out of my ear canals. Drove me nuts.

Consider two action items: go back to your audi (or find a new one) to look at the setup for your current aids. Is the LEFT aid literally set to an uncomfy high volume? And 2.) seriously consider a custom-molded, rough textured titanium tip on the speaker. Could be a much better outcome for your listening pleasure!

Thank you so much for your input. I am wondering about molds. I am new to though and already finding I feel very stuffed-up and worry molds will feel even more heavy duty.

My other reason to wonder, is because my right canal keeps getting inflamed. The tragus hurts. It’s difficult to tell the cause, since I am still recovering from blocked eustachian tubes which - if the diagnosis is correct - has included a twinging dull ear-ache as well as pain in the neck, behind the ears, over my brow. I’m taking a steroidal nasal spray for that and have been referred to Otology (who knows got long I’ll have to wait) (No sign of a remaining infection apparently). All this to say, I’m not sure if my HAs are aggravating my tragus/ear canal, or if it’s referred pain connected with the eustachians (although both tubes are blocking and this pain is only on one side).

If it is an issue with the receiver poking my ear, or the domes, I guess that’s another reason to think about molds. Can they be pretty light-duty and discreet? I know I can’t handle a rigid mold - that’s what the NHS tried to give me, acrylic maybe, and they were excruciating. Any thoughts?

I’ve walked in your shoes! HARD shell molds can be intolerable - if the FIT isn’t right …. or, in my case, if you have an allergic reaction to the material used. I am very alergic to anything acrylic or even the firm, clear silicone molds - my ear canals will be inflamed within a matter of hours. So try to figure out if you are having inflammation of a “sensitivity” nature or if it’s the poor fit.

I can absolutely give titanium molds a BIG thumbs up!! I have zero sensitivity to that material, and the roughed-up titanium is super grippy. Maybe I lucked out, but my impressions produced absolutely perfect-fitting earmolds. Sometimes even the best ear impression results in a poor fit if the maker of that mold gets something wrong.

As for discretion, you’d be amazed how “invisible” the DARK gray titanium mold is. It sits completely in my ear canal, leaving only the thin, snug ear wire to connect to my “bean” behind the ear. I could wear my hair in a ponytail (if it was long enough), and have even used headbands to completely pull my hair back. VERY little if any show of the aid, not that I care! My “beans” are Caribbean blue and bright fuschia (I have 2 pairs). I LOVE to take them out even at a dinner gathering and show them off. They are beautiful, colorful, and the aids give me the confidence to PROMOTE my wearing them.

I’d give them a try if I was you, and even pay for the cost if the NHS won’t pony up. They like to get the cheapest solution out there, and sadly, that can result in a suboptimal fit and VERY unhappy customer. Especially if the mold causes inflammation.

Be persistent! Be your own advocate. Try to get the final solution something you can live with.

Thank you so much, what a great attitude you have :smiling_face::folded_hands:

So the new news is that the feeling of inflammation I’m feeling in the ear canal is nerve pain apparently, as there is no physical sign of swelling. This is perhaps unsurprising because I have had a terrible 2 months of infections and my nervous system has been a wreck.. so I’m pursuing some alternative therapies and massage and exercises to try to soothe that side of things (because I’m not willing to take amitriptyline without trying alternatives first), and for a week or more just not using and giving that part of my head a chance to calm down and not be poked.

It will be interesting to see if domes can work without the ear swelling afterwards. They did work for a month before this all kicked-off.

I’ve also - today - change audiologist and feel much more confident they will work to iron out feedback issues as I was having in my left ear. And for news with new hearing test, yes I have lost more hearing with this speight of infections but less than I’d feared, which is a huge relief.. :sweat_smile:

@Sallyinthesky said:

So the new news is that the feeling of inflammation I’m feeling in the ear canal is nerve pain apparently, as there is no physical sign of swelling.

Just curious: so if you look into that ear canal, it is NOT red/inflamed at all? Yes, NERVE pain can be just as awful as tender inflammation, so if it’s due to a poor fit, I hope you are on the road to fixing this with your new audi! Keep us posted!

One final avenue to explore: Tic douloureux. Read all about it HERE4. My mom has had it off and on for 20+ years, and it can be super painful, too!

Mine push in just fine. There is a plastic “string” that I use to pull them out.

WH

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